


Quality of Life

by harmonyfb



Category: Doctor Who
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-02
Updated: 2014-11-02
Packaged: 2018-02-23 14:41:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2551319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/harmonyfb/pseuds/harmonyfb





	Quality of Life

Every time, he tells himself _no more bringing home strays_!, and every time, he finds himself running down some featureless corridor with one of them, and by then, it's too late. By then, they're following him along like some little ducklings who've imprinted on a football by mistake. One taste of the wide universe, and they never go willingly - the worst part is, he understands so well. He certainly wasn't content to sit on Gallifrey discussing theory and watching from afar.

And he likes the company, too, unless he thinks too hard about how he's changed their timelines, and not always for the better. Adric, certainly, would have been better off...grown out of his annoying habits, made a name for himself in mathematics, had a family. _Lived_.

He looks at River, spending happy nights with him and sleeping her days away in Maximum Security. In the endless possibilities that might-have-been there were plain and boring lives and lives of excitement, and in all of them she had her Mum's intelligence and bravery, her father's loyalty and compassion. In none of them was she broken and dangerous and desperate...save the one he created that first night in Amy's backyard.

River smiles, and he smiles back, even though he knows their time is too short (less than 10 linear years til she's eaten by shadows and he has to explain to Amy why her daughter is never coming home.) His smile is bittersweet. Her life would have been better if he'd never come to earth; all their lives might have been better - but his would definitely be worse.


End file.
